“Global Hunger Is Back With a Vengeance… The surge in prices of major agricultural commodities is hitting the world’s poor especially hard…
“Lives are quite literally at stake, and those who endure chronic food shortages often suffer awful long-term damage to their bodies and minds. Even worse, food shortages can lead to to violence and political instability.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-07-14/global-hunger-is-rising-with-food-prices
“Eggs and pancakes for dinner: How one family of seven is coping with America’s food inflation.
“Melissa Roberts used to whip up “breakfast for dinner” for her family once in a while when she was pressed for time. Now, she’s serving pancakes, eggs and biscuits at least once a week out of financial necessity.”
“Americans’ Debt Soars to [record] $14.64 Trillion in Borrowing Binge…
“Americans have reverted to using debit cards more often to travel or dine out. They’re chipping away at checking-account balances buoyed by stimulus money sent out to get the U.S. economy through the pandemic.”
“The Bank of England risks becoming addicted to creating money and needs to come clean about how it plans to unwind its £895bn bond-buying programme, the House of Lords has warned.
A report from a Lords committee… said there was a threat of quantitative easing (QE) leading to higher inflation and causing damage to the government’s finances.”
“Britain’s ticking debt bomb is now the Government’s greatest threat… The UK is more exposed than any other country to rising interest rates. No wonder Sunak is worried…
“…the interest paid on our £2.2 trillion national debt is tiny. This is what might change – in a fairly dramatic way.”
“France protests: clashes with police on Bastille Day amid anger at tighter Covid rules.
“Police have fired teargas to disperse demonstrators in Paris, as thousands of people protested throughout France… The demonstrators are unhappy at the decision announced on Monday to oblige health workers to get vaccinated and bring in a vaccine health pass for most public places.”
“Plan to vaccinate teens triggers large protests in Greece.
“Thousands of anti-vaccine demonstrators gathered in Greece’s two largest cities Wednesday to protest plans to make coronavirus vaccines available to children 15 and older. The protests took place outside parliament in central Athens and in the northern city of Thessaloniki.”
“Inflation? Not in Japan. And That Could Hold a Warning for the U.S…
“…as Japan has learned the hard way, low inflation can be an economic quagmire. And that experience carries a warning for the United States if its current bout of inflation eases, as many economists expect, and its economy falls back into the cycle of weak inflation that preceded the pandemic.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/business/economy/inflation-us-japan.html
“China warns of economic uncertainty despite moderate recovery in Q2.
“The NBS data release comes at a tense juncture for China’s economic planners as they try to balance financial stability with growth. Liu Aihua, a spokesperson for the NBS… warned that the rebound was “unbalanced”.“
https://www.ft.com/content/484f019c-8179-49d9-b23a-2885b8aeaf47
“China to order developers to disclose commercial paper debt every month – sources…
“Chinese regulators want property developers to disclose details of rapidly growing commercial paper issuance in their monthly reports, said three sources, as part of Beijing’s move to rein in ballooning debt in the property sector as the economy slows.”
“Sichuan Languang’s crisis deepens with MTN default.
“China’s Sichuan Languang Development Co has become the latest property developer to default on a domestic public bond, failing to repay a Rmb900m ($139m) medium term note this week. More defaults from the company are likely…”
“North Korea facing ‘worst food shortage in a decade’…
“The admission came after Mr Kim issued a warning in June stating that the food situation is “getting tense” in the country. Reports from North Korea said the prices of food items have been skyrocketing since the beginning of 2021.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/east-asia/north-korea-food-shortage-un-b1883871.html
“Iran water crisis spurs protests.
“Street protests broke out overnight over severe water shortages in Iran’s oil-rich southwest, according to Iranian news outlets and videos posted on social media on Friday, as the country faces its worst drought in 50 years.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-water-crisis-spurs-protests-reports-2021-07-16/
“‘There is no future here’: Lebanese struggle through economic collapse.
“”I was shocked. I’m Lebanese, I have a job, I have health insurance,” one person with breast cancer said about struggling to afford a $5 chemotherapy co-pay.”
“Algerian police have arrested dozens of unemployed young people in a crackdown after clashes broke out in several towns, a rights group in the north African country said on Thursday.
“”The situation is worrying, with dozens of arrests, clashes and scenes of violence,” Said Salhi, deputy head of the LADDH group, told AFP.”
“Pandemic disruptions push millions of Nigerians into hunger…
“Millions of Nigerians like Gbadebo, who were once on solid financial footing, can no longer reliably feed themselves or their families. Roughly 18% of households in Nigeria have at least one adult who does not eat for an entire day at a time…”
“South Africa calls up army reserves to halt unrest.
“South Africa mustered its army reserves in a bid to quell several days of looting that has ravaged supplies of food and other essentials and dealt a crippling blow to its economy… The disruption has severed supply chains and choked transport links, savaging deliveries of food, fuel, medicine and other essentials.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/south-africa-calls-up-army-reserves-to-halt-unrest
“Africa Hit By Covid-19 Death Surge And Shortages Of Oxygen, Hospital Beds…
“Deaths are rising because variants are spreading and people are not following public health guidelines as much as before. There aren’t enough workers, hospital beds or oxygen to treat the growing number of patients…”
“Argentina breaches 100,000 COVID deaths amid deepening crisis…
“Argentina has become the fifth country in Latin America to surpass 100,000 deaths linked to COVID-19, as the country suffers a surge in coronavirus cases that have strained its healthcare network and worsened an already dire economic crisis.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/15/argentina-surpasses-grim-milestone-of-100000-covid-deaths
“Thousands of demonstrators marched in Rio de Janeiro Tuesday, demanding President Jair Bolsonaro resign over corruption charges and what they say is the mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In Rio, small clashes broke out between police and some demonstrators, leading to tear-gas being fired to disperse the crowd.”
https://www.euronews.com/2021/07/14/brazil-protesters-call-for-bolsonaro-resignation
“Narco-blockades, clashes in Michoacán as cartel battles extend beyond Aguililla [Mexico]… ‘There is no human power that can contain these monsters:’ Catholic priest in Apatzingán…
“The Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán is coveted by criminal groups due to its proximity to Pacific coast ports, through which illegal drugs are smuggled into the country, as well as its iron mines and forests.”
“Protests flare up in Haiti, still reeling from president’s killing…
“…gasoline shortages added to concerns over insecurity and access to basic goods a week after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise pitched the Caribbean nation into uncertainty.”
“Cuba Protests Fanned by Worst Economic Crisis Since Fall of USSR…
“The pandemic devastated the island’s economy. As tourism dried up, the economy shrank 11% in 2020, according to Economy Minister Alejandro Gil, its deepest slump since the early 1990s when the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe had deprived the nation of allies and trade partners.”
“Biden targets high shipping costs as pandemic ravages global supply chains…
“Freight may seem a prosaic topic for presidential attention. But the smooth movement of goods has perhaps never been more essential, amid the explosion of e-commerce that accompanied the pandemic.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/07/14/biden-competition-shipping-order/
“Bubble warning: The S&P 500 has only been this expensive for 4% of the past 140 years…
“A highly respected valuation gauge developed by Yale economist and Nobel laureate Robert Shiller hit a mark showing that the S&P 500 is now pricier than in 96% of all quarters over the past 141 years.”
https://fortune.com/2021/07/14/s-and-p-500-bubble-stock-market-spx-history-excess-cape/
“Fund managers losing faith in the global economic recovery…
“Belief in the so-called reflation trade is now over among many fund managers, according to the latest Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Fund Manager Survey. Expectations for global growth have peaked among fund managers…”
“The great exit: central banks line up to dial back emergency stimulus…
“The Reserve Bank of New Zealand on Wednesday said it would halt its pandemic-induced quantitative easing programme, becoming the latest major central bank to start exiting emergency stimulus.”
You can read the previous ‘Economic’ thread here. I’ll be back over the weekend with a ‘Climate’ thread.
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